A senior official in South Sudan’s Boma State has stepped down after a disagreement within the state government over whether to carry out an assessment on the popularity of the appointed governor or not.

Lieutenant-General Khalid Botrous, the Minister of Physical Infrastructure of Boma State, submitted his resignation to Governor Baba Medan.

Botrous had served as deputy chief administrator of the defunct Greater Pibor Administrative Area under David Yau Yau.

In a statement bearing Khalid’s signature and seen by Radio Tamazuj, he resigned alleging that the newly appointed governor Baba Medan did not abide by the outcome of a meeting between representatives of Boma State and President Salva Kiir.

He said the meeting had resolved to set up a fact-finding committee tasked to ask citizens whether they support or reject the appointment of Baba Medan, according to Khalid.

Khalid further said Baba Medan failed to abide by the outputs of the meeting and that the committee failed to submitted its report. According to the resigning minister, the fact-finding committee was supposed to compile a report whether the citizens support or reject the appointed governor.

Khalid who is a former senior member of the SSDM-Cobra Faction demanded a power-sharing between his faction and Medan’s group if the later claims to be popular among Pibor people.

"I cannot represent the Murle in this government because the governor didn’t comply with the outcomes of the meeting held at the presidency," reads the statement.

Photo: SSDM/A commander Boutros Khalid (right) and his deputy at negotiations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2014